"I've lived in L.A. and Chicago and all around the West Coast. I found myself continuing to gravitate back here. I really enjoy how much talent there is here." Sam Luna and Shaun Marie Krueger of Appleton's FEATherWOLF on being a Wisconsin band.
Ron Page/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

APPLETON - Sam Luna pursued his music career through Los Angeles and Chicago.

But the Arizona-born musician, who is half of the Appleton-based duo FEATherWOLF, says he found a home in Wisconsin.

“I continued traveling around and lived in Chicago and L.A., but I kept finding myself coming back to the Fox Valley,” said Luna, a musician and artist in his 30s. “I kept learning about more of the musicians here and kept hearing more of the music and I … found myself spending more time in the Fox Valley than in Chicago.”

He asked himself: Why pay the higher cost of living in Chicago when he could live in Appleton? After all, he also had a feeling — the kind, Luna said, you get almost immediately when you enter a new town — this is where he wanted to be.

“I never really loved LA. I tried to make LA work because for music and art it was good, but I didn’t love it,” he said. “Here, I just love it. People genuinely try to help each other.”

Wisconsin's arts scene is worth more than $535 million to the state's economy, according to a state analysis. And beyond their direct impact, arts and cultural offerings help shape a place's identity, and help those who live in Wisconsin communities form bonds with them. As the state's workforce ages and economic projections show a looming worker shortage, some economic development organizations see promoting Wisconsin's arts scene as a matter of survival.

The state doesn't have the large entertainment-industry footprint of New York, California or Nashville, Tennessee. Only about 2.6 percent of the state's workforce belongs to the category that the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations." But artists in cities large and small call Wisconsin home and say the communities surrounding them is much of what keeps them here. In turn, the art and culture they bring to the places they live are among the key selling points to attract, and keep, young people in the state.

Wisconsin is where Luna met Shaun Marie Krueger, a 28-year-old Kiel native who has carved out a music career in her home state. Two years ago they started writing, recording and performing blues-and-country infused music together. They haven’t stopped.

Through their travels, the duo have contemplated resettling in other parts of the country, but choose to stay in Wisconsin. This is where Krueger’s family is,and it’s also home to a community that allows her to pursue, and develop, her art.

“When we got back from Costa Rica, it was very clear we were very happy in Wisconsin and I don’t think I’d want to be anywhere else,” Krueger said. “You can tell people (in Appleton) want live music and they want that art and culture around them.”

She isn’t alone. An area’s cultural base can be a key selling point for employers and economic developers.

“If you want to attract millennials, you need to have gathering places that are alive. Sidewalk cafes in the summer, ice skating in the winter, concerts and constant kinds of activities,” tourism branding guru Roger Brooks said in an interview late last year.

“For the first time in U.S. history quality of life is driving economic development," Brooks said. "There’s nothing that sells quality of life more than tourism: it’ recreation, parks, things to do, and places to eat.”

“Because they enhance quality of life, the arts and culture are an important complement to community development, enriching local amenities and attracting young professionals to an area,” the report said.

The Paine Art Center and Gardens in Oshkosh is one of the attractions highlighted by companies working to bring new talent to the area. Directors at the Paine are aware of the role it plays in both economic development and the broader quality of life of the area.

"Our job is to make sure the institution is vibrant... and we're doing is relevant and current," said Aaron Sherer, the Paine's director. "We want to make sure our (exhibitions) are really high quality and reflect ideas and artists from Wisconsin and beyond."

Aaron Sherer, executive director of the Paine Art Center and Gardens in Oshkosh, along with Keith Nelson of 7th Floor Studios in Milwaukee, hang "The Queens Armada" in the foyer of the Paine. This print is part of "Wonderland: Photographs by Kirsty Mitchell," an exhibit opening Saturday.(Photo: Joe Sienkiewicz, Joe Sienkiewicz/USA TODAY NETWOR)

An exhibition this summer featured the work of a British photographer, a first for the museum.

"We saw a strong response from younger professionals," Sherer said. "When people come here they want to know there's a vibrant arts scene, but that it's not an isolated art scene and there is going to be crossover throughout the state, the country and internationally, if possible."

When a bigger city beckons

Not all artists stay or young professionals stay in Wisconsin.

Matt Bero, an artist and small business owner, who among other things is known for his Morty The Moose mural in downtown Green Bay, left for Chicago in September, where he took a job with the Lincolnwood Public Library as a content specialist.

Snow falls by the Morty the Moose mural painted by local artist Matt Bero in 2015 on Wednesday, January 25, 2017, in Green Bay, Wis. Bero's mural was one of those painted through the Art on Main public art program of the Olde Maine Street District. Art on Main is now commissioning an automotive-themed mural to be painted by a local artist this spring at Pomp's Tire Service at 416 Clay St. For more information visit: www.downtowngreenbay.com
Adam Wesley/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin(Photo: Adam Wesley/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wi)

Bero, an advocate of community art and community engagement through art, culture and creativity, was named the 2016 Young Professional of the Year for Current by Current, the Greater Green Bay Chamber of Commerce’s young professionals group. He moved to Chicago for the job and its benefits (consistent work and health insurance), location, and sluggish response from government to new, or different, ideas in Green Bay.

In his new digs he’s found a vibrant, and larger, arts community that includes the Wabash Arts Corridor in downtown Chicago, a hotbed for murals and other art. But also sees his home state doing something right and a chance for all communities to up their games when it comes to arts and culture.

“Madison and Milwaukee have a lot of things figured out, but we can all grow as a state to re-frame Wisconsin as a cultural and creative hub,” he said. “One of my biggest drives when I was in Green Bay was to make it visible that there are other things going on other than the Packers.”

Bero, a 27-year-old Green Bay native, said he tried to shake things up and show there are creative people doing creative things in the community. Despite the efforts of young professional groups and government agencies, he's among the thousands of young people who leave Wisconsin for areas perceived to be more vibrant, cooler, or more progressive.

Bero doesn't rule out returning to his home state.

"I'm always hopeful that Green Bay and the surrounding areas will improve in ways that will help to retain and attract talented people," he said.

That includes improved walkability, an active and engaged community, bikeability, a creative economy, and support of entrepreneurs and startups, he said.

"If I do happen to find my way back home, I'm sure to have a bag of tricks to apply from having lived elsewhere," Bero said. “If the city feels alive, that’s what people are really looking for. Nobody wants to live in a drab, boring, gray place. ... If it’s a place people want to be, other people are going to want to be there.”

Something Special

Part of FEATherWOLF’s work has involved giving back to the community, namely Menasha, by touring in support of a program aimed at keeping music, and access to musical instruments, in schools with the help of a GoFundMe page and Tundraland Cares, the charitable arm of Tundraland Home Improvement.

“I wanted to be able to give back to the area,” Luna said. “I wouldn’t be able to be doing music and art the way I’m able to if it wasn’t for the love of the community here in the Fox Valley.”

Krueger said connections among other musicians and artists are part of the attraction to the area, which is admittedly smaller than other hot places for young people and artists to settle — like Austin, Texas, Nashville, or Minneapolis.

“Everyone who is here works together,” she said. “Everyone supports each other, it’s not a competition of who is better than who, or who is getting more people at their shows.”

FEATherWOLF is finishing up a new album expected to be released in December and has a number of Wisconsin dates booked into next year, including shows at Lambeau Field, a winery in Ripon, house parties and Granite Peak Ski Area in Wausau.

Luna said Wisconsin is a good place to be for a musician and artist. He and Krueger plan to make it their home.

“Anytime you want to get better at your craft, you put yourself in an area where people challenge you the most, where people are doing better things than you, or making better music, so it pushes you to be better,” he said. “I was really feeling that here. There’s something special happening here.”